A Good Kind fo Bad Date
by somuchanemoia
Summary: "I'm sorry, Sara," Mila mumbled once more as Sara settled herself on the couch. "Don't be," She turned to her girlfriend and gave her a playful look, "We got to try out those cool life jackets. How many people get to try those out?" Mila stared at her for a minute before laughing and leaning into Sara, "Only the people whose boats sink in the middle of the river."


Sara hummed and looked up at her girlfriend from where she was resting her head in Mila's lap. The redhead hadn't realized that she was being watched yet, still absorbed in an episode they had been watching together of The L Word. Mila was in that state of unput together comfy that she swore made her girlfriend look ten times more adorable. With her bright red wavy bangs were tucked up into a little bun on her head, keeping the pieces out of her shocking blue eyes that were free of their normal makeup. Her soft spattering of freckles were showing on her nose and cheeks, trailing slightly across her jawline. And most of all, she was dressed in a pair of ratty sweatpants and a holey, paint splattered FISG t-shirt.

She was wearing Sara's holey, paint splattered FISG t-shirt that she had kept at Mila's apartment for when she stayed the night or the weekend. It was a rather nice sight to see Mila dressed in her clothes when she didn't steal them last minute right from Sara's small stash of clothes that she had stored in the closet.

"Babes?" She hummed over the sound of the TV. The Russian girl hummed to show she was listening though her eyes never left the screen, "Don't you ever get bored of doing the same thing every Friday night?"

"Fucking Jenny..." Mila glared at the TV for a moment, before looking down at the Italian girl with a curious look, "What do you mean?"

Sara sat up and spun on the couch to face Mila, sitting criss-cross applesauce in front on the couch, "I love coming here and watching Netflix for hours and just cuddling, but, don't you ever get bored of just sitting here. We do this every Friday night."

Mila reached over and paused the episode as she turned so she faced her lover on the couch, mirroring her position, "Well, yeah, but I don't really mind as long as we spend time together. Normally we both have such hectic schedules that it's kinda nice to just, ya know, veg together. Usually, our schedules don't align so..."

"You know," Sara smiled, "We both have Friday and Saturday off next week..."

"We have press conferences all day."

"That's right. We have press conferences all day, but our evening is free, is it not?" Sara hummed and wiggled her eyebrows, "We still haven't check out the Mikhailovsky Gardens. I've heard it's beautiful there in the evenings."

Sara's lips slowly curled into a smile, "They are. They have beautiful flowers and cobblestone roads. It reminds me a bit of those part of Naples you showed me. Sara, you'll love it. They even have this cute little river you can canoe on. It's so beautiful."

"And it sounds incredibly romantic."

"That too," Mila reached out and grabbed Sara's hands from where they were playing with a loose thread on the grey pajama shorts she was wearing, "Shall we call it a date? Next week, you and me, The Mikhailovsky Gardens?"

Sara smiled and rocked forward onto her knees, almost straddling Mila as she pressed her lips to the redheads in a loving kiss. Mila's arms came up to wrap around her, desperate to make sure she stayed balanced, but nonetheless, returned the kiss with fervor.

"I'll take that as a yes then?" Mila hummed contently as she broke away.

Sara rolled her eyes with amusement, "Si."

o.O.o

The Mikhailovsky Gardens were as immaculate as Mila had eluded to. The number of rose bushes would have been alarming if it wasn't for the beauty of the of roses and flowers they now stood in the middle of. White, red and pink roses surrounded them like a floral sea, occasionally broken up golden chrysanthemums and dark emerald ivy all of which was being illuminated by little fairy lights strung up in rows across the pavilion of roses.

"Close your mouth, Sara," Mila teased as she squeezed her hand, "you'll catch flies."

"It's beautiful! Quasi bello come a casa..." Sara was still breathless as they walked through the pavilion together, "I know you said it was beautiful, but this is so..."

Mila chuckled softly and leaned over to press a kiss to Sara's temple, "I know. It's peaceful, isn't it?"

It was incredibly peaceful. They weren't alone in the garden; other couples were milling around and talking quietly as they looked at the flowers and the marble fountains that trickled. There were couples sitting in the surrounding grass or on small benches, enjoying the sights and the soft pan flute music being played from somewhere in the park.

It had been a long day of sitting and being interviewed for both of them. Most of the time they were separated in different rooms, and then they had been on different ends of the table in group interviews with other female skaters. They were used to it, but at times Sara had desperately wished she could hold Mila's hand under the table. Mila could ground her when talking about home, a place she had come to desperately miss.

She was 23. She had been away from home more than she would care to admit between training and skating, but she had always had her brother, Michele, with her. But now she was training in Russia by herself, Mickey having returned home to train in Italy. The homesickness finally was getting to her without her brother around to dull the sensation.

Russia had become home in a way; Mila was here and the ice rink they trained at had become like a family to her too. She even was able to convince herself that when watching Viktor Nikiforov and Yuri Plisetsky bickering, she could almost pretend that the two merged and became Michele for a moment in time. It was almost comforting to watch how the two could argue and yet be so in sync.

And here they were in the beautiful Mikhailovsky Gardens. She could see why Mila said it looked like Naples. The cobblestone pathways were surrounded by golden grass, flowers were everywhere and if you could imagine hard enough, you could see the beautiful Italian architecture surrounded the pavilion. However, instead of oleanders and garden cosmos that were famous for being homegrown by the locals, they were surrounded by the crisp white roses and mums. Instead of the sounds voices and the usual sounds of home-dwelling, pan flute music was playing, making the scene seem almost movie like. Instead of it being warm and comforting in the Italian sunset, it was cold enough to be wrapped up in a jacket.

Looking around the beautiful pavilion, it was as if Italy and Russia had mixed and created a perfect combination of both.

Mila squeezed her fingers, "Come on, I want to show you something. I think you're gonna love this."

o.O.o

"ты меня разыгрываешь..." Mila groaned as she looked at the little blue and white boat that was sitting in front of them, "You've got to be kidding me. What happened to the canoes?"

"This is what you wanted to show me...?" Sara hummed as she looked at the piece of plastic that didn't look like it could withstand a gust of wind, let alone a boat ride around the pavilion of roses in the Mikhailovsky Gardens, "We might as well use it. We already paid for it and besides, think of how pretty the gardens will look on a romantic boat ride in the sunset."

Mila hummed as she pulled the lifejacket over her head, "True. It will look beautiful. Help me get this flotation device into the water?" Mila asked as she squatted slightly and began to drag the little blue and white peddle boat to the river's edge.

"Of course," Once she tossed the life jacket over her head and wrapped the cord around her waist, she immediately helped Mila maneuver the boat into the water. It wasn't heavy, but it was incredibly awkward, to say the least, "Okay, I'll hold it steady, you get in but don't start peddling. We'll have to peddle to get this thing to work."

She held it steady as gently as possible slid into the boat, trying to keep the thing steady as she got in. Once Mila balanced her weight in the boat she held out a hand for Sara to join her, "Come on. I think this thing is a little sturdier than it looks."

Sara stepped into the boat and was surprised to see that Mila was right - it did feel more sturdy than she initially thought, "Well, that's good. At least we won't sink right away."

Mila chuckled as they both settled in their seats and their feet found the peddles, "Don't even wish that upon us. Let's pray this thing doesn't go down in the river."

o.O.o

"I'm sorry, Sara," Mila mumbled once more as Sara settled herself on the couch.

"Don't be," She turned to her girlfriend and gave her a playful look, "We got to try out those cool life jackets. How many people get to try those out?"

Mila stared at her for a minute before laughing and leaning into Sara, "Only the people whose boats sink in the middle of the river."

"Exactly, and in our defense, we lasted longer than we should have. Good job getting out as much water as you could."

"Thanks. And you did a good job peddling all by yourself even if you sent us into circles."

Sara wheezed mirthly, "That thing was so hard to peddle. Yakov should just look into buying up peddle boats instead of exercise bikes. So much resistance. It was exhausting."

"It was. And don't tell Yakov that because he might just take your suggestion," Mila hummed as she reached for the remote on the coffee table, "We're both world-class figure skaters and we were vested by a peddle boat."

Mila felt her grin widen, "Somehow I can't see Yurio on a peddle boat."

"He'd be so angry. Maybe if Yakov put Otabek on there with him he wouldn't scream as much," Mila chuckled as she handed Sara the remote, "Viktor and Yuuri would be good at it until they started sinking."

"Viktor would be panicking about the rising water while Yuuri peddled and tries to toss water out."

"And then we'd hear about how amazing Yuuri is for the next week from Vitya."

"We'd hear about that anyways. It's Viktor."

"True. At least the sights were pretty before we sank." Mila purred as she curled up around her girlfriend, "Did you have a fun time?"

Sara paused, her finger about ready to start up their binge watching of The L Word once more, "Of course I did. I spent time with you and the gardens were beautiful. I couldn't have asked for a better night out."

"Hmmm. Good." Mila snuggled in closer as the episode began to play. They were comfortable, back in their normal element, just spending time together in love. It was almost as beautiful as the garden in a way.

Content and peaceful.

That was until Jenny opened her mouth on the screen.

"Fucking Jenny," they both mumbled in unison.


End file.
